


these colors of feeling (you kind of struggle not to shine)

by My_King_And_Your_Lionheart



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Dialogue Light, Fluff, M/M, Minor Angst, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, WIP Week, when you touch your soulmate they leave colors on you
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-28
Updated: 2017-08-28
Packaged: 2018-12-20 20:23:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11928573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/My_King_And_Your_Lionheart/pseuds/My_King_And_Your_Lionheart
Summary: Shiro's always got someone else's color on him, but when his color starts turning into someone else's, he knows he's got it bad.AKA the soulmate AU where your soulmates leave color on you whenever you touch!





	these colors of feeling (you kind of struggle not to shine)

**Author's Note:**

> Day one of my second WIP week. Love these things!! 
> 
> Title from An Evening I Will Not Forget by Dermot Kennedy
> 
> And lol i didn't edit this bc I just wanted it Done. lmk if i messed anything up too badly.

Shiro considered himself a tactile person. It wasn’t uncommon for his hands and shoulders to be spotted with Matt’s mossy green, or for the other cadet to have Shiro’s garnet soul-color peak out from under his hairline. Matt always complained that people thought his scalp was bleeding for hours on end whenever Shiro would ruffle his hair. Shiro responded to his whining but pushing his hands in Matt’s face until Shiro’s hands were a bright emerald and Matt’s cheeks were semi-permanently scarlet. It would be a while before the colors faded.

The first time they’d touch and exchanged colors, Matt had only had his sister’s Kelly green wrapped in a hug around his middle, the color imprinted boldly even through layers of starched uniform. Shiro himself had Keith’s amethyst along his side from where the younger boy had been tucked under his shoulder, as well as an amber brushed along his knuckles from when he’d passed someone in the hall. Shiro doesn’t know who it was, but he’s not too concerned. Soulmates have a way of finding each other in the end.

It’s both a surprise and not when Matt’s green leaves lines on Keith’s palm when they shake hands over lunch. Keith’s purple hasn’t overshadowed Shiro’s red, but it’s still there faintly. The two of them are definitely soulmates, but their bond isn’t that strong. Nothing like when Shiro and Keith had first touched, the red aggressively bold on Keith’s fair skin, and the easy purple that took days to fade from Shiro’s skin. That had been three months ago, when Keith had broken Shiro’s simulator record and Iverson had called them both into his office.

Keith had blue streaked lightly across one of his shoulders where he says another cadet bumped him in the hallway. It faded about as fast as the yellow on Shiro’s knuckles had. Keith also had a strange black that lingered on his hands, but he never told Shiro where it came from.

* * *

Shiro wasn’t always in love with Keith, despite the jokes Matt made. By the time he realized his soul color had been changing to match Keith’s, Shiro was well on his way to leaving Earth’s atmosphere in a few short weeks. But Matt no longer had such a red face when Shiro felt like bothering him, and the imprints he left along Matt’s scalp were a much more purple color than anything Shiro had left behind before.

Shiro was so busy worried that Keith would notice the sudden color change that he didn’t realize that Keith’s purple looked much more red than normal right away. Matt was the one who finally brought it to his attention, two weeks before they were supposed to launch for Kerberos. Shiro was startled to find his own deep red marked all over his skin from where he’d wrestled Keith the day before. The shimmery purple Shiro’s fingers left on Matt’s skin made his heart beat faster. His breath catches in his chest and it’s hard to breathe. He had to find Keith. 

Keith was using his free time to practice in the simulator, and Shiro stood in the entrance to the pod a moment and just admired the cadet in front of him. God, how had he never realized how much he loved Keith, from the first touch of purple on his skin to now, when that same purple had become his own soul-color.

“Keith.” Shiro’s voice is rough, because he doesn’t know how to do this, damn it, and he’s feeling too much to keep it all inside. Keith turns around in the pilot’s chair and shoots Shiro a lopsided smile. Are the artificial stars of the sim projection reflecting in Keith’s eyes, or has Shiro just never notices the galaxies swirling in the deep purple irises?

“You okay, Shiro?” Keith’s brows draw together as his smile turns down at the corners and Shiro wants to smooth away the crease in his forehead, wants to paint Keith’s grin in purple, never wants the color to fade, wants everyone to know he loves Keith until the end of time. Shiro takes a couple steps closer to Keith, but chickens out before he comes within touching distance.

“I just… Have you noticed anything different about your color?” Shiro’s voice is still scratchy, and he doesn’t meet Keith’s eyes as he clears his throat. He decidedly doesn’t look up when he hears the pilot chair squeak as Keith gets up.

“Are you asking me if I’ve noticed we’ve switched colors? Because I have. And… and if you don’t want that, it’s fine, really, I’ll wear gloves or something-” Shiro can’t stand the thought that Keith might actually believe that Shiro doesn’t want Keith’s soul painted on his skin for eternity.

“I love _you_.” Shiro winces at how his voice comes out, cracking on the last word and still sounding like he hadn’t used it all day. Keith’s eyes widen, and Shiro is about to take the words back, even though that’s the last thing he wants to do right now. Keith is walking toward him, taking a few steps to clear the distance between them before he grabs onto Shiro’s forearms, anchoring Shiro in place.

When Keith kisses him, Shiro understands why people compare it to stars going supernova. It’s fireworks and falling meteors and everything Shiro thought it would be. Hoped it would be. When Keith pulls away, his eyes are still closed, but a gentle smile is on his face, and Shiro leans back down to kiss him again.

When they pull apart, Shiro is still going into outer space in two weeks, but Keith’s mouth is an attractive shade of purple, and Shiro can see the outline of his hand where it had tangled in Keith’s hair. Shiro catches sight of himself in a reflective window as Keith pulls him back to his room. His mouth is a cherry red and his cheekbone has Keith’s fingertips branded across it. 

When Matt sees them the next morning he gives Shiro a smirk and gives him a once over. 

“That red go all the way down?” Shiro turns red and it has almost nothing to do with Keith’s hand in his, this time.

**Author's Note:**

> An ending that's actually good and planned out? I don't know her.
> 
> Enjoy and leave a kudos or comment if you liked it!


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